The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Bianca]

Bianca gropes weakly for his hand as he approaches, blood oozing from her mouth, her eyes distant, struggling to focus. "Varric?" she asks, and her voice is soft, hesitant. She's covered in blood; it's dripping from under her fingernails, bleeding from her nether parts, from her nostrils, her mouth. 

[Varric]

"Yeah, it's me," Varric says in a choked voice. He hesitates only a second before taking her hand, trying very hard to ignore the blood and... other things everywhere. "We-" He hesitates, then switches hands so he can get a better view of the baby. 

He prays it's a baby.

[GamesMaster]

It's a baby, thank all the Bright Gods: ten fingers, ten toes, and two open, perfect blue eyes, just like Bianca's. A dwarf, probably, or merikos -- except for the stubby horns atop its head. A dwarf tiefling? 

[Bianca]

"Please," she whispers. "The baby -- don't let Bartrand take little Var."

[Varric]

"Only thing Barty is taking is tea with Mileen," Varric assures Bianca instantly. "He- little Var?" he asks, pausing in his fumbling for a healing potion.

[Bianca]

"I could hardly name him Bianca," she whispers, managing a wry smile. "Varric," she adds, a moment later, after a coughing fit. "I did love you. I was just too scared. I should have gone with you then."

[Varric]

"...would have been a good life," Varric says gently, grabbing the vial and pressing it to her lips. "Drink. It wasn't you," he adds, feeling compelled. "I don't..." Too complicated, simplify. "Women aren't... my thing."

[Bianca]

She drinks, obediently; the blood flowing from her fingernails slows, stops, then, a moment later, as if new lacerations have occurred, bursts forth once more. 

"You didn't love me. And you had no money. I was scared you'd dump me somewhere. Married to a tyrant was better than homeless on the surface."

[Varric]

"I did love you. Still do, under the hurt and dust," Varric tells her, swallowing hard. "Bianca, I don't think... I don't know if we can..."

[Bianca]

"I'm dying. I know." She gives a thin, wry smile. "wasn't supposed to live through this."

She takes a deep breath, then. "...if he's... watch him. He might be... they wanted to replace my son with a devil. So you'll have to watch. I--"

She coughs, again, more blood choking her lungs.

[Varric]

Replace... does she mean (Marian) completely? "...got a paladin. We'll be smart about it. Do.. do you want your brother to.."

[Bianca]

"Rust take him," she spits. "I tol' him Bartrand hit me and he told me, shouldn't have married him then. No. You're the only one I can trust -- that's why I wrote to you in the first place."

[Varric]

"Alright," he says gently. "Alright. I'll... I'll take care of him. He'll have a good life on the surface." As long or short as it is, depending... "Do... do you have anything else..?"

[Bianca]

"Heh," she says, a moment later. "You said Bart's dead? I suppose that makes you Clan Head, don't it?" she asks, with a wry smile. 

[Varric]

"Fuck the Clan. I already laid crumbs for the Vagalites to find this place. Let Tethras be stricken from the Walls of Ancestry for the shame of this." He swallows thickly. "For the shame of what was done to you. And to little Rick."